Demigod Hands-On

The kingdom of Rokkur is not a happy place. Omnipotent deity the All Father has gone missing, and his warrior children are tearing the world apart in order to take their father's place as almighty ruler in the pantheon. But the battle for godhood isn't easy, as we saw in our recent hands-on time with Demigod this week, and there's no All Mother to coddle you through this adventure. But you do have a giant friggin' hammer.

That malicious mallet belongs to Rook, one of the assassin-class demigods we played as in this action RPG/real-time strategy game from Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games. Rook is a giant walking castle, upgradable with archer towers and laser beams of pure light. As an assassin, his campaign plays out like an action RPG. He has no control over his allied units on the battlefield; instead, you point and click Rook down a path of destruction, using hotkey attacks to crush enemy creeps and minions before finally dropping your devastating hammer on their evil little faces. Other assassins included the Torchbearer, a devilish demon capable of harnessing the power of fire and ice. He can switch between elemental schools at will, freezing enemies in their tracks and then burning them to the ground.

There are eight characters in total, four assassins and four generals. Each plays very differently from one another, as a heavy focus was put on asymmetrical gameplay. The Torchbearer is more of a ranged fighter, hurling fireballs and deep freeze attacks from distance, whereas Rook charges straight in with one philosophy: Hammer first, ask questions later. No matter which assassin you play, you'll be playing an action RPG, controlling an over-the-top warrior and purchasing upgrade attacks and items. With each kill, you earn experience points that can be spent at your store in your home base. For sale are simple items like health and energy potions, as well as high-powered rings and amulets that give your demigod upgrades that last the entire battle. It's important to note that these upgrades disappear after each individual battle, so those who forked over the dough for the All Father Ring will have to return it after your victory. If you don't want to purchase items, you can simply level up your character with a health and energy boost. You also recharge your health at your headquarters, so the obvious strategy with an assassin is to dive in, deal damage with your special hotkey attacks, and then retreat back to base.

Meanwhile, allied creeps and minions are pouring into the battle through reinforcement portals. These units are recruited and controlled by generals as they build barracks to house their troops. Generals can jump into the battle too; we saw the Queen of Thorns, a sexy redheaded plant creature, uproot and charge into the center of battle. But mostly you'll be commanding your units to attack control points on the battlefield. As an assassin demigod, it helps to follow the creeps as they will distract the attention of the high-powered guard towers that act as control points. These towers shoot out beams of death that take off about a third of your energy, so running behind creeps, rolling a boulder as Rook, or throwing a deep freeze attack as the Torchbearer seemed to be the best strategy. Of course, opposing demigods were quick to defend the tower, and a giant lizard called the Unclean Beast (not to be confused with a certain ex-girlfriend), began sucking Rook's energy. In this manner, battles are long and drawn out, but when you finally capture a control point, you feel a true sense of accomplishment and reward since you just spent 20 minutes hammering away at it.

Game modes include a single-player mode, skirmish mode, and five-on-five multiplayer, and each mode plays out on one of the eight maps. As this war is really a tournament to decide the next lord of all creation--and destruction--it is fought on eight large battlefields in some the most exotic locations of Rokkur, including a lava mine, a waterfall temple, and, of course, a giant serpentine structure floating in space. Indeed, the first thing that immediately stands out about Demigod is its vibrant art style and singular character design. Angels and demons, giants and imps swarm across these fantasy battlefields in large numbers. Allied demigods in the single-player game are handled by friendly AI. There is no coordination or command of your allies, so as an assassin it helps to follow their lead, while generals will want to send in troops to support assassins.

We do know that Demigod will support DirectX 9 but not DirectX 10, and players will be able to zoom in to ground level and out to the heavens with the same effective zoom mechanic found in Supreme Commander. Generals will want to see the entire battlefield as they play more of a simplified RTS, while assassins will want to zoom in to their version of an action RPG to witness their own devastating attacks. Demigod is currently being tested in a friends-and-family beta stage, but a public beta is planned for sometime in the near future, for those who can't wait until the game's scheduled 2009 release to become a god.